Means for enabling the regulation of pressure on well-drilling tools



Dec. 14,1926. 1,610,872

J. W. M CLATCHIE MEANS FOR ENABLING THE REGULATION OF PRESSURE ON WELL DRILLING TOOLS I Filed Jan. 28, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 14 1926.

J. W. M CLATCHlE MEANS FOR ENABLING THE REGULATION F PRESSURE ON WELL DRILLING TOOLS Filed Jan. 28, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet E .4. 41 7g 40 '52 5 29 I I a 15-=L- ,l m :16 I H 16' 5 i 21 15 i I r 13 14 Z 20 I I 17- g. 55

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Gamma Patented Dec. 14, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,610,872 PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN WARREN MACCLATCHIE, OF COMPTON, CALIFORNIA.

MEANS FOR ENABLING THE REGULATION OF PRESSURE ON WELL-DRILLING TOOLS.

Application filed January 28, 1924. Serial No. 638,983.

My invention particularly pertains to a means and method for enabling the regulation and determination of the pressure or load imposed on well drilling apparatus.

An object is to provide a mechanism operable by the weight of a string of well drilling tools, for indicating at all times during drilling operations the pressure or load on the drill and to the weight of the tool string.

Another object of my invention is to pro vide a means whereby the operator of a rotary well drill will be enabled to regulate the load or pressure of a drill on the end of a well bore according to varying conditions so as to obtain the maximum of elliciency in the cutting action of the tools in various geological formations and also impose a predetermined load on the cutting tools irrespective of the length and weight of the tool string and thereby largely obviate the danger of breakage of the apparatus due to overload.

Another object is to provide a mechanism of the above character which is ada ted to be readily applied to the ordinary we 1 drilling equipment now commonly employed in rotary rigs without necessitating any change in the construction or manner of operation of such equipment.

Another object is to provide a means for indicating loads in well boring o erations which embodies a pressure or loa responsive actuator operable by the pull of a suspended load, and a hydraulically influenced indicator operatively associated with said actuator which is adapted to indicate the load or pressure on a rotary drill due to the weight of the tool string, as above set forth, and is also applicable for use in indicating the weight or load of a suspended string of well casing and for indicating the load or pull imposed on a tool string in drilling wells by the standard method or in percussion drilling, and to indicate the pull or weight on the tool string in fishing opera tions.

A further object is to provide an appliance of the above character which is simple in construction and efficient in operation and which embodies means for readily efiecting adjustment to meet varying conditions.

With the foregoing objects in view, together with such other objects and advantages as may subsequently appear, my invention resides in the construction and arrangement, and of the parts and features hereinafterdescribed and claimed, and illustrated byway of example in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view in elevation illustrating the head works of a rotary drilling rig showing the invention as applied.

Figure 2 is a View in vertical section and elevation of the hydraulically influenced indicator.

Figure 8 is a detail in horizontal section as seen on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4/is a view in section and elevation of the load responsive actuator for operating the indicator, as seen on the line 44 of Figure 5 Figure 5 is a view in side elevation of the device shown in Figure 4, as seen on the line 55 of Figure 1.

More specifically, 6 indicates the stem oh well drill which ordinarily comprises joined lengths of pipe on the lower end of which is mounted a suitable drilling tool, not shown, this stem being commonly known as a tool string, which is suspended from operating cables 7 by which the stem is fed or lowered into the well bore and withdrawn therefrom, as is common in rotary well drilling operations; the stem being fitted with the usual connections 8 fitted with a head 9 carried by a sheave block 10 on the cables 7.

In carrying out my inventionI interpose between the head 9 and the sheave block 10 a load responsive actuator 11, particularly shown in Figures 4 and 5, which is adapted to actuate an hydraulically influenced indicator 12 (shown in Figure 2), as will be hereinafter described.

The actuator 11 is here shown as comprising a cylindrical casing 13 in which is mounted for reciprocal movement a plunger 14 having laterally extending trunnions 15 which project through vertical slots 16 in the side of the casing 13 and engage a yoke 17, the lower end of which is connected to the head 9 in any suitable manner. The

plunger 14 is normally spaced fronr the lower end of the casing 13 to provide a space 18 which is filled with a suitable liquid, preferably oil.

The plunger 14 is formed with an axial bore 19 fitted with a bushing 20 in which is mounted a piston 21 of small diameter, the upper end of which piston connects with a stem 22 guided in the upper portion of, the plunger 14 and pivotally connected at 23 to a piston 24 mounted to reciprocate in a chamber 25 formed in the upper portlon 26 of the casing 13. A bail 27 is provided on the casing portion 26 which is adapted to be engaged by a hook 28 carried by the sheave block 10. The upper end of the casing por tion 26 is closed by a cap 29, and nterposed between the cap 29 and the piston 24 1s a spring 30 operable to yieldably oppose upward movement of the piston 24; the upper end of the spring 30 bearin on a seat31 carried by a screw 32 operab e 'to ad ust-the tension of the spring 30. The spring 30 s designed to yieldably oppose the pull exerted by the tool string on the actuator, and

the reduced piston 21 serves as a hydraulic reduction of the load of the tool string on the spring 30. A spring 33 may be (11SPOS811111 the chamber 18 at the lower portion of the casing 13 to yieldably oppose downward movement of the plunger 14 and to serve in cooperation with the spring 30 to maintain the parts in normal position as shown in Figure 4, but in some instances the spring 33 may be dispensed with.

Leading from the upper portlon of the chamber 25 is a flexible conduit 34 the upper end of which connects with a pipe 35 leadlng to and opening into "a chamber 36 above a piston 37 1n a cylinder 38 forming part of the structure of the indicator 12.

The upper end of the cylinder 38 is fitted with a screw plug, 39 which forms an end l wall of the chamber 36.

The chambers 25' and'36, together with the communication therebetween afforded by the conduit 34 and pipe 35, is filled with a suitable liquid, preferably oil; the cap 29 being fitted with an intake opening 40 through which the liquid for filling the chambers 25 and 36 is introduced, and which intake opening is closed by a cap 41. The liquid is thus trapped between the pistons 24 and 37 and constitutes a hydraulic medium whereby movement of the piston 24 will be transmitted to piston 37 A regulating valve 42 is provided in the pipe 35 to afford means for variably resisting the flow of the hydraulic medium to and from the chambers 25 and 36. r

The lower end of the cylinder 38 is closed by-a screw-plug 43; and interposed between the lug 43 and the lower end of the piston 37 i a spring 44 operable to yieldably oppose downward movement of the piston 37.

Mounted on the cylinder 38 is a housing 45 fitted with a dial 46 through which dial extends a shaft 47 carrying an indicating pointer 48 adapted on rotation of the shaft 47, to traverse the dial 46. The shaft 47 is fitted with a pinion 49 meshin with rack teeth 50 on a'longitudinally sli able bar 51 having a pin and slot connection 52 with a lever'arm 53 pivoted at 54 in the housing. A ever 55 has at one end a pin and slot engagement 56 with the lever arm 53 and is pivotally connected at its other end as indicated at 57 to the piston 37. The lever 55 is fillcrumed on a pin 58 which engages a longitudinal slot 59 in the lever-and is carried on a slide 60 adapted to be adjusted horizontally to shift the fulcrum of the lever; there being a threaded stem 61 screwed into a bearing 62 on the casing 38 and connected to the slide 60 whereby on rotation of the stem 61, the slide may be moved to advance or retract the pin 58 and thereby shift the fulcrum of the lever 55. The slide 60 is mounted on suitable guides 63 and the stem 61 is fitted with a knurled head 64.

The dial 46 is provided on its outer face with an annular arrangement of graduations 65 which are here shown as numbered consecutively clockwise from a point designated asZero, indicated at 66. When the parts are at normal and there is no load on the actuator 11, the pointer 48 will extend toward the graduation marlred Zero as shown in Figure 2, but when a load is imposed on the.

actuator the pointer will be caused to turn in a counter-clockwise direction and will be caused to come to rest in a position to indicate the Zero graduation on the dial regardless of the load imposed on the actuator by effecting certain adjustments, as will prescntly be described.

The spacing of the graduations 65 and the mechanism for operating the indicator 48,

unit of length of the tool string preferably 1 employed as a load basis, comprises four connected lengths of pipe sections forming the drill stem 6, which connected sections are commonly designated as a stand of drill ste m sections.

The indicator may be adapted to indicate a load of any suitable number of stands of drill stem sections, being preferably designed toindicate a number of stan s in excess of that which would ordinarily be used in deep well operations, so as to be capable of in dicating the maximum load which might be imposed on the actuator.

In the application of the invention, the indicator 12 is. located at a point convenient to the observation of the drill operator and the pipe 35 connected thereto is extended upwardly on the usual derrick frame 67 to a point above the indicator a distancerapproximating one-half the length of a stand of the drill stem sections, and the flexible conduit 34 connecting the upper end of the pipe 35 and the actuator 11, is also of a length approximating one-half the length of a stand of the drill stem sections so as to permit vertical movement of the actuator within the range of travel of a stand of the drill stem sections, either in advancing same into the well or Withdrawing the stand therefrom. The tension of the spring 44 is adjusted by means of the threaded plug 43 so as to permit depression of the piston 37 under the pressure exerted by the head of the liquid in the pipe 35 and conduit 34 and to normally maintain the piston 37 in such position that when the piston 37 has been depressed by imposing a load on the actuator, as later described,vthe pointer 48 will point to the graduation marked Zero as shown in Figure 2.

The tension of the spring 30 is adjusted so as to hold the piston 34 against upward movement under any load carried by the plunger 14 in the actuator other than such as would be effected by the weight of a stand of the drill stem sections; in other words, the spring 30 is tensioned'to overcome the weight of the drill and the drill head 9 and its connections to the drill stem and to the actuator, so that no operation of theactuator will take'place until a stand of the drill stem sections is connected between the drill and the drill head.

The parts being thus adjusted, the operation will be as follows:

On connecting a string of the drill stem sections to the drill and to the drill stem head 9, and elevating the actuator so that the load of the dependent tool string thus formed will be carried by the plunger14, the latter will be caused to move downwardly a short distance and thereby exert a pressure on the liquid in chamber 18, which pres sure is transmitted to the reduced piston 21 and acts to move the latter upwardly together with its connected piston 24 in opposition to the spring 30. The upward movement of the piston 24 exerts a pressure on the liquid in the chamber 25 which pressure is transmitted through the liquid in the conduit '34 and pipe 35 to the piston 37 so as to effect depression of the latter in opposition to the spring 44. The downward movement of the piston 37 rocks the lever 55 on the fulcrum pin 58 so as to move the lever arm 53 and the bar 51 in an upward direction and thereby cause the pointer 48 to turn counter-clockwise through the medium of the rack teeth 50, pinion 49, and shaft 47.

The distance that the pointer will be caused to traverse the dial under the particular load imposed on the actuator, will be dependent on the number of stands of the drill stem in the tool string according to the weight thereof, and also upon the position of the fulcrum pin 58 relative to the ends of the lever 50, being further governed by the initial position of the piston 37.

For example, let it be assumed that a string of seventy stands of drill stem sections is suspended from the actuator. The pointer will then be moved according to the weight of the seventy stands which is dependent of course upon the size of the pipe employed to form the stem which may vary, but which is usually of uniform size in a particular instance, but the point at which the indicator pointer comes to rest under this load of seventy stands is immaterial inasmuch as the indicator will be adjusted according to the number of stands and the size of the pipe. In effecting this adjustment of the indicator the full load of the tool string is suspended from the actuator, whereupon the screw plug 43 is retracted to reduce the effort exerted by the spring 44 on the piston 37 and the screw plug 39 is advanced so as to shift the hydraulic mediumin the chamber 36 and thereby efi'ect depression of the piston 37, which will cause further movement of the indicator pointer irrespective of the movement under the load of the tool string. By this adjustment the indicator pointer is positioned so as to indicate the zero graduation when the actuator is under the load. The load is then removed from the actuator, as by enga ing the tool stem by means of slips 68 an slackening the cable 7. On the load being taken off the actuator the spring 3() in the latterwill effect depression of the piston 34 causing a retractive movement of the piston 37 and a consequent retrograde movement of the indicator pointer 48, which should come to rest to designate the grad nation numbered 70 corresponding to the number of stands comprising the tool string. Whether the pointer will register with registration number seventy or not will depend upon the position of the fulcrum pin 58. and accordingly if the fulcrum pin is not in the proper position to eflect the correct indica tion of the pointer, it is then shifted by operatingthe threaded stem 61 to either advance or retract the fulcrum pin as occasion may require, to either cause the pointer to move forward or backward to the proper position. This being accomplished, the load of the tool string is again imposed on the actuator, which will again cause the indicator pointer to move counter-clockwise towards the zero graduation. The adjustment of the piston 37 and the fulcrum pin 58 may be repeated indicator is properly adjusted to adapt it to 7 a particular drilling apparatus, no further ad ustment .will be required inasmuch as varying the number of stands in the tool string will e'fl'ect a corresponding variation in the movement of the indicator pointer. It will thus be seen that the adjustment of the screw plugs 39 and 43 serves as a means for shifting the path of travel of the piston 37 and as a consequence shift the path of travel of the pointer and the adjustment of the fulcrum pin 58 serves as a'means for regulating movement of the indicator pointer relative to the movement of the piston 37; the latter adjustment adapting the indicator to operate with different tool strings.

After the indicator" has been properly adjusted any desired load represented by the weight of a stand of the drill stem sections may be imposed upon the drilling tool according to the judgment of the drill operator. For example, if it is desired to impose a load equal to the weight of ten stands on the drill, the drill will be lowered into the Well and brought to rest upon the bottom of the well bore whereupon the cable 7 will be slackened until the load of the actuator will be relieved sufficiently to, cause the indicator pointer to move clockwise to the graduation'numbered 10 thus indicating that the drilling toolis bearing on the end of the well bore under the load of ten stands of drill stem sections and that the remaining load of the drill "stem sections is suspended from the feed cable.

occasion may require.

While I have shown and described the in vention as appliedto rotary drillingoperations, it may beadapted for use in other purposes, and while I- have shown and de I scribed a specific embodiment of the invention,I do not limit myself to the exact details of construction and arrangement shown but may employ such changes and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

-I claim 1. In a device of the character described, a stationarily mounted hydraulically operated load indicator, a suspended actuator mounted for vertical travel in relation to and independent of said indicator, 'a tool string depending from said actuator, tensioned means in said actuator yieldably opposing the pull of said tool string. and fluid pressure operated means operatively connecting said actuator and indicatonwhereby the load of the tool string on a tool will be designated by said indicator;

2. In a device of the character described,

a stationarily mounted hydraulically operated load indicator, 'a suspended actuator mounted for vertical travelwin relation to and independent of said indicator, a tool In this manner the operator may vary the load on the drill as 'sioned means in said actuator yieldably opmeans, and fluid pressure operated means operatively connecting said actuator and'in dicator adapted to permit vertical travel of said actuator .in relation to said indicator.

3. "In a device of the character described, a stationarily mounted hydraulically operated load indicator, a suspended load influenced actuator mounted for vertical travel in relation to and independent of said indicator, a tool string depending from .said actuator, tensioned means in said actuator yieldably opposing the pull of said tool string, means for varying the tension of said tensioning means, fluid pressure operated means operatively connecting said actuator and indicator, and means for regulating said indicator.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of a suspended tool string, a load responsive actuator interposed in'said string, a dial having numbered graduations,

a pointer operable to traverse said dial,

in said last named means whereby the length of the path of travel of said pointer relative to a force applied to'said actuator may be varied, and means for shifting the path of travel of said pointer and a fluld connecting means between the actuator and indicator.

5. In a device of the character described,

and a fluid connecting means between the actuator and indicator. Y

6. In adevice of the character described, a dial, a .pointer operable'to traverse the dial, an oscillatory lever, means-- actuated by said lever for effecting rotation of said ointer, a reciprocal pistonlconnected tosaid ever, yieldable means for opposing movement of said piston in one direction, pres sure actuated means for moving'said piston in opposition to said yieldable means, and means whereby the fulcruinof said lever may be shifted in longitudinal relation to said lever. I 1

7. .In a device of the character described. a dial, a pointer operable to traverse said dial, an oscillatory lever, means actuated by said lever for effecting-movement of said lever, a reciprocal piston connected to said lever, a spring yield-ably opposing move ment of said piston in one direction, means operable by hydraulic pressure for moving said piston in opposition to said spring, means for adjusting the tension of said spring whereby the piston may be moved in opposition to the hydraulic pressure thereon and thereby shift the path of travel of the piston and pointer, and means whereby the fulcrum of said lever may be moved longitudinally of the lever so as to vary the length of the path of travel of said pointer in relation to the distance of travel of the piston. JOHN WARREN MACCLATQHIE. 

